Cite as: Deflem, Mathieu. 2010.
"Introduction: The Criminology of Popular Culture." Pp. ix-xi in
Popular Culture,
Crime, and Social Control, edited by Mathieu Deflem. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
.
Crime and social control present important issues
that move and affect large segments of society. Whether we consider the impact
of criminal events in terms of victimization, the construction of deviance
into criminalized acts, or the many socially relevant aspects related to
criminal justice policies and other social control activities, crime and
justice are matters that deserve our most serious attention. It is largely for
this reason that scholars develop astute theoretical models and sophisticated
methodologies to study crime and social control in their many significant
components. Yet, the world of popular culture, which we tend to associate with
playfulness and fun, has also embraced themes related to crime and its
control. It is perhaps a sign of the very earnestness associated with crime
and social control that these themes are also dealt with in the social
institutions of entertainment. The study of such portrayals of crime and
criminal justice in popular culture is the focus of the present volume.
Francois
Truffaut once remarked that the task of the movie director is not to say
something but to show something (Truffaut, 1985). Undoubtedly, this is true
and, surely, this should be true of all exciting art. Yet, while not intent on
saying something, artists also do say something and do transmit ideas, whether
consciously or not, through their aesthetic expressions. It is possible
therefore to analyze dimensions of popular culture from the viewpoint of
various academic disciplines. Social scientists have particularly sought to
unravel many aspects of social life as they are revealed in popular culture.
Among the many sociologically relevant issues, crime and social control have
received considerable attention.
More work has been done in the criminology of
popular culture than can be reviewed here (see, e.g., Bailey and Hale, 1998;
McMahon, 2008;
Murley, 2008). Suffice it to say that diverse artistic and cultural
expressions, such as paintings, sculptures, photographs, cartoons and other
visual arts in the print media, music, movies, television, and internet-based
audio-visual materials have been analyzed from the viewpoint of important
matters relating to crime and social control. There also exist specialized
journals in this area, such as the Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular
Culture and Crime, Media, Culture. It is in this rich burgeoning
field of criminological analysis that the present volume is situated.
This work offers a range of innovative
contributions that contemplate on some of the many ways in which themes
related to crime and its control are addressed in a number of different
manifestations of popular culture. In Part I, chapters are brought together
that focus on the representation of criminologically relevant themes in the
visual arts, including movies, comic books, and television. Susan Boyd’s
chapter addresses arguably one of the most famous and infamous examples of the
treatment of drug abuse in the world of the cinema by discussing the
representation of marijuana use in the cult classic Reefer Madness. Also
focusing on other movies that portray illegal drug use, Boyd draws on feminist
and critical criminology to argue that there are enduring links presented
between illegal drugs and immorality that involve a stigmatization and moral
condemnation of drug users. Nickie Phillips turns to a very topical theme by
analyzing the popular movie The Dark Night in the wake of the events of
September 11. Phillips’ analysis focuses on the ideological messages of crime
and justice that are presented in The Dark Knight and specifically shows how
these messages reinforce the notion of the evildoer as an outsider. Bradford
Reyns and Billy Henson next focus their criminological attention on the
relatively unexplored art form of comic books. The authors find that crime
control and crime prevention themes can be found across a broad range of comic
books. They suggest that such representations may influence the public’s
perception of crime and thereby affect the legitimacy of the criminal justice
system. In a final chapter on the visual arts, Dawn Cecil looks at televised
images of incarceration in documentaries and reality-based programs. The
author shows that jails of all sizes and types are presented but always in a
sensationalized manner that is supportive of official criminal justice
policies.
Part II focuses on criminological themes in
popular music. Judah Schept first analyzes the lyrics and music videos of
Palestinian hip-hop, with a special focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Based on a semiotic analysis, Schept finds that Palestinian hip-hop artists
rely on terms from criminal justice to narrate their lives under occupation in
contrast with an organically conceived connection to the land of Palestine.
Charis Kubrin and Ronald Weitzer also focus on rap music, but their attention
is centered on the existing academic scholarship about rap. The authors argue
that this scholarship reveals several weaknesses in lacking rigidity of
research. Accordingly, they make several recommendations to strengthen such
contributions. Turning attention to black musicianship, Viviane Saleh-Hanna
uses the scholarship that can be found in music lyrics to broaden the focus of
mainstream criminological discourse. In particular, the author argues that
black musicianship can offer an antidote to the colonialism and racism that is
often reproduced in criminology. A final chapter on music is offered by Ellen
Leichtman, who centers her scholarly attention on protest music during the
civil rights era and in the Punk movement. On the basis of her analysis,
Leichtman argues that music should not be overlooked in the study of criminal
justice as it can serve an important function to those who fight for justice.
The final part of this book brings together
chapters that study themes of crime and justice in the non-fictional world of
popular culture. Anneke Meyer first explores the representation and regulation
of child sex crimes in the news media. On the basis of discourse analysis of
newspaper stories, Meyer shows that the media construct pedophiles as members
of a distinct and dangerous category of people and that this image also
informs formal policies. Likewise focusing on news publications, Greg Justis
and Steven Chermak analyze the manner in which forensics television programs
are used in the news media. The authors find that such representations of
forensics entertainment have been increasingly relied upon in the news and
that they greatly influence public perceptions. Stephanie Kane shifts the
attention to popular culture as it is practiced in everyday talk, especially
in discourse on crime. The author shows that the carnivalesque lifestyles on
Brazil’s beaches are confronted with the reality of armed robberies and that
this duality informs popular culture as practical living. In the final chapter
to this volume, Nicole Rafter and Per Ystehede analyze the criminology of
Cesare Lombroso in the context of late-19th century Gothicism. The
authors argue that Lombroso’s criminals were Gothic creations, drawn from
literature and art, thereby manifesting a connection that exists between the
worlds of fiction and science. Collectively, the authors of this volume hope
to have offered analyses that may further stimulate scholarship on the
criminology of popular culture and bring about stimulating discussions and
debate.
References
Bailey, Frankie Y. and Donna C. Hale. (1998).
Popular culture, crime, and justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
McMahon,Richard
(editor, 2008). Crime, law and popular culture in Europe, 1500-1900.
Cullompton, UK: Willan Publishing.
Murley, Jean. (2008). The rise of true crime:
20th-century murder and American popular culture. Westport: Praeger
Publishers.
Truffaut, François. (1985). Hitchcock. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
.
This is an electronic version of a
print publication. Please cite as: Deflem, Mathieu. 2010. "Introduction: The
Criminology of Popular Culture." Pp. ix-xi in
Popular Culture,
Crime, and Social Control, edited by Mathieu Deflem. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
